Leonard Zeskind’s 2009 book Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream chronicled the rise of the White Nationalist movement and warned of its growing influence in American politics.

Zeskind died in April 2025 at the age of 75, but his legacy lives on. Four of the people closest to him convene to mark the book’s October 2026 re-release with a discussion of his life’s work.

Participants include:

• Moderator Mary Sanchez, Zeskind’s friend and former Kansas City Star reporter.
• Chuck Tanner is the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights research director. Starting in 1991, he worked alongside Zeskind, tracking the rise of white nationalism. 
• Zachary Mueller is a senior strategist for States at the Core where he helps communities understand and respond to the intersection of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant sentiment.
• Attorney Nimrod Chapel Jr. is the president of the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP and Chair of the Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty.
• Bishop Donna Simon, who serves Missouri and Kansas for the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
• Carol Smith, Zeskind’s friend and life partner of 46 years, will offer opening remarks. 

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Zeskind a fellow in 1998, making him a recipient of one of their “genius" grants, and partially funding completion of his book, which was published in 2009.

In 2025, shortly before Zeskind’s death at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, the Naval Academy purged 380 books from its library that were classified as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion — Blood and Politics was among them.

The list also included: Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and White Fragility: Why It's so Hard for White People to Talk About Racismby Robin DiAngelo.